Bite The Hand
by TurtleBreath
Summary: What was Tsume like before Kiba came to the city? How'd he end up there in the first place? The story of Tsume's past, rated PG-13 for offensive language, violence, and adult situations.
1. Run, Wolf Warrior, Run

"You ungrateful coward!" The gray wolf was sent rolling to the icy ground, blood leaking from his chest. It had appeared to be a mere scratch in the instance it had been struck, but as more blood gushed out of the wound and showered the snow, it was apparent that he was scarred for life. The alpha male, his pelt darker than night walked to the beaten wolf as he lay on his back, chest pointed upwards. Ignoring the painful grunting sounds that his former companion made, he pressed down hard with his left paw into the center of his chest, the very middle of the "X" he had made. His claw was now soaking in red.

"Get out of my presence," snarled the alpha, "You aren't welcome here. After everything this pack has done for you, you turned tail and ran!" He pressed down harder, making the gray wolf wheeze. Blood was spurting from the wound like a water fountain. Slowly, the large alpha removed his paw from the pool of blood. His eyes were glaring with hatred at the motionless gray wolf. After waiting for him to move for nearly a minute, he rolled his paw in the snow to clear it of blood, then began making his way back to the battle field to treat any living wolves.

Now the gray one was the only wolf remaining. He wasn't moving at all, other than the occasional twitch of his paw, but one couldn't be sure if this was simply because of the tornado-like winds that swept across the terrain. Even despite the winds that would normally whistle louder than you could think, the scene was quiet. All was still now. The blood that had pooled so freely from his chest moments ago was now drying with the cold, crusting itself upon the fallen wolf. But no one was there to witness it. Everyone was simply gone.

Everyone except Tsume.

The silence was broken in a quickness that would frighten a grizzly bear. The gray wolf sat himself up in one swift motion and hacked out more of the red mess that drenched his body. He vomitted once more and then began gasping for breath. He was amazed he hadn't passed out. He knew what he had to do now... Leave. He had already disgraced his pack to no ammends. If he were to still be there in the morning, half a corpse or not, they would inflict upon him something worse than death. As it was though, a mark branded into your chest of your disloyalty was a horrible punishment to get off with.

He moved forward. A pain welled up in his mid-section that nearly made him vomit again. He cringed momentarily, then took another step forward. Slowly, he began to build up an immunity to his injuries. A small one, but it was enough to get him walking. His limbs now ached, as well as every part of his body. He wasn't any normal wolf though. There was no strength without pain. This whole situation may not be completely in spite for him either. There was no need for a pack. He could see this now as he dragged himself away with contempt from the wolves he had called his family. He was strong enough to survive on his own without anyone to take care of him. As his head grew hotter, he began to run faster.

Yes... The alpha he had lived under for so long was a liar. He didn't really care about the wolves. He justed wanted to win this battle so much he was willing to kill every last wolf in existance. He didn't need a leader like that. He was his own leader. Tsume began running at normal pace. He was blinded from the pain it was causing in his chest, but he would have ignored it even if he hadn't been in such a temper. He needed to get away from the deceit he'd been given with these wolves. Deceit. That's what it was. Everything had been a lie, including the ledgend of paradise. There was no such place...

He was disabled a second later. It had been small and feint, but he had caught it. A small crack came from his chest, and the dried and bloody scab was broken, allowing fresh blood to leak from his body. Groaning, he fell to the ground. His body layed out perfectly in the white snow. More was beginning to fall now, as if someone from above had seen his blood and whished to dispose of it. Tsume twitched once, then attempted to get up. A sharp pang went through out his body and he fell again.

Weakling, he found himself saying to himself. You're a damned weakling. Get up.

And he did. Inhaling in the frosty air, he managed to lift himself and trudge forward. He would keep pushing himself until he was away from the stench of the wolves he had run with.

A trail of blood was following him as he wobbled uncontrolably through the snow. He didn't notice though. He could only think of living, and he sure wouldn't if he didn't at least leave the boundaries. As he took another whiff of the air, he could tell it would take him a while. He picked up his pace. He wasn't concerned about the pain anymore. He would obey one last command from his alpha even if it killed him. It wasn't because he wanted to be ordered around. It was because he didn't want his final resting place to be here.

He wasn't going to miss anything about the pack. Tsume was always the loner type of wolf. Naive and brash, he mostly stayed in his own spot in his den. He didn't know the meaning of friends... They were simply wolves who trusted him and let him be alone. He was a necessary assessment, and always had been until now. He'd been one of the few rambuncious enough to go after the fastest deer in the herd. Weaker prey was for pups. And still, the alpha had never taken too kindly to him. He encouraged him to speak with the pack more, but he never heeded his word. He didn't need to... If he'd been friends with any of those wolves, he'd be much more hurt than he was now.

He was sure that at some point he had even tried to be friendly, when he had just grown from a puppy and staked out to join his own pack. It was the first thing his alpha had told him to do. Make friends. Sure as hell didn't have any to brag about now. None of them were anything like him. Infact, they were almost all complete opposites. Happy and carefree... They were nearly pacifists. If they didn't kill to eat, they probably wouldn't have killed a single twig. Something about this quality just had a high tendancy to piss him off. Well, they were sure peace-loving now, lying dead on the tundra. Those bloody... Those bloody...

He started slowing down again. He began to cough. Dry blood... As if he hadn't already seen enough of the stuff. The reddish snow was quickly covered however. He'd somehow missed it, time and space now slower to him. A blizzard had surrounded the wolf. You couldn't go a step without getting covered in snow. Now that he focused, he could hear the wind too. How long had it been? It couldn't have been snowing this hard that long. He inhaled through his nostrils and couldn't pick up any scent of the other wolves. He couldn't smell anything. His own blood wasn't recognizeable, though he was sure it was still pooling. Now his vision was becoming impaired. Or maybe that was the snow... It didn't matter. He was too numb to care. He went a few more steps, his eyes now beginning to lose their focus. His step was becoming more wobbily. He wanted to pass out. He would have killed to pass out. He would have killed anyway, he didn't need a reason. He wouldn't let his body lay decaying here though.

How had he ended up here? He was beginning to forget... That's right. He ran away. ...From what? The pack? That must have been it. But why was he bleeding? Maybe he had gotten into a fight with something. Or someone. Maybe he had finally killed that over confident son of a bitch that reigned over his old pack. Regretfully, that probably wasn't it. He should have killed him before he left though. Would have shown them a thing or two. Really...

He kept walking. Somehow, he felt like he'd passed here before, but it was hard to tell when everything looked exactly the same. Especially when you couldn't see at all. Had he always been blind? Somehow he didn't think so. Yes, he remembered having seen before. Seeing that alpha male, that mangy dog who walked around with his tail between his legs. That stupid... Bloody...

Tsume took another step forward. He didn't feel his body move with the step. He tried taking another step. Still nothing. This was an odd sensation... After trying to move forward several times, he had created a very wonderful pattern in the snow. He hadn't realized it, but he had fallen over. He growled as he tried for the last time and got nowhere. A deep sigh escaped his throat and a tear ran down from his eye.

"Why am I such a coward?"

By now, he wasn't sure whether his eyes were open, closed, or somewhere in between. It didn't matter. Within seconds, Tsume had finally allowed himself to fall unconcious.

There's your prologue. Yeah, I'm special. I do all of my notes and stuff at the BOTTOM of the page instead of the top.

-The title, "Bite The Hand" was given after the name of the song "Could you bite the hand?" by Steve Conte. The song name probably derives from the saying "Don't bite the hand that feeds you", but I enjoy using song titles for my fanfics because I'm uncreative and can't think of my own special titles.

-I did not give Tsume's alpha wolf a name to emphasize his power more and to respect the creators of the show. I hate making up original characters (Unless it's for role play), but there will be a few in here, so if you hate stories with made ups, stop reading right now. They're not the main focus... Tsume is. But yeah... Anyway, back to "the alpha". I don't think Tsume would have referred to him by his name anyway had I given him one, so it wasn't worth it to type it once and then never mention it again. In case you didn't notice, my view of Tsume is that he has little respect for his due to his hot temper.

-It is possible to go that long without passing out with all that blood loss. And if anyone can prove to me that it isn't, well... Tsume isn't human. So there. If you can prove to me that wolves can't last that long, then you are free to sue me for my house and money. And stuff.

-SPOILER: If you haven't seen the whole series, this really is what happens. This is just my view of how it happened. The next few chapters are about life before Kiba came. I guess I just put this here so you can all ruin your imagination... Whoops.

-I re-did this chapter a little. I read through it and realized how many spelling and grammar errors it had... Bloody Notepad.

Now for the disclaimer. Wolf's Rain is (C) Keiko Nobumoto and Studio BONES. That includes plots, scenery, and characters. Even ones I have created are inspired by the series, and thereby not only (C) Wolf's Rain, but also (C) Me. I find you stealing and you can bet that when you wake up, your house will already have found a new buyer.

Now I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to comment or rant the hell out of me. If you did like it, you can expect the next chapter out sometime this month. Feel free to advertise your own fanfics too. I'm always happy to have something good to read.


	2. Stray Dog Strut

When Tsume opened his eyes again, everything was just as blurry as when he had shut them. The only difference was a bright light shining down on him. The sun? No, it was never that bright. Perhaps he had died... As he took a smell of the area, he realized he hadn't. Though he'd never been there, he didn't think heaven stunk like a human.

He was lying on his stomach. Hadn't he hurt his stomach earlier though? He pushed himself up cautiously. There was a sensation of warmth as his chest left the table. It was cold and metallic. As he looked down, he saw the image of himself reflecting back at him. His eyes trailed further down the table until his head was nearly under the rest of his body. A giant "X" was pressed into his chest. Other than the large scab, there was no sign of blood anywhere. He couldn't even smell it.

He released a sigh as he plotted himself down on the end of the table. Where was he? His curious eyes scurried around the room. There was a shelf in the right corner of the room, containing sharp knives and scapels of different sizes. The light from above created a glimmering affect with them. The walls were yellow, almost making the tools shine more. On the floor near the small cabinet was some monstrous machine, big enough for him to fit into. Perhaps it was another one of these tables, save larger. It looked much too destructive for that though...

Now that he looked around the room more, there were lots of strange looking machines like the first one. They all had a similar glitter and reflected his image at him. It must have been some kind of torture house... A growl eminated from him as he returned back to all fours. He shook his head from side to side in search of any men hiding there. He could smell them... But then he picked up on another scent.

"...Dogs?"

A door, the same color as the walls opened. Tsume turned around as quick as he could manuver himself on the slick table. He was facing a human, one with gigantic round glasses and crazy white hair. Tsume said nothing as he studied his features. His nose was a little too big for his face, and shadowed his dry yet small lips. His neck was pale and thinly, connecting his head to his body in a way that he was sure would cause it to snap off. It was hard to see his eyes beneath the glasses he wore. They were blue, that was all Tsume could identify with. He moved from his face to his lower body. He stopped when he saw what he held in his hands - A newborn puppy.

Giving the man no time to explain himself, Tsume began barking uncontrolably. The old man nearly dropped the puppy. "Whoa there boy, calm down!" It was surprising how loud he could yell. Tsume stopped for the moment, eyes still cross. Now that he was quiet, he could hear the newborn whimpering.

The wolf was tempted to bark again. He wasn't sure how, but he knew this man was hurting the pup. Before he could start again though, the man shifted the puppy to one arm and held out a hand to Tsume. "There's nothing to fuss about now. I heard voices in this room as I was walking by and I wanted ta make sure there weren't nobody but you here. Now you rest while I give this pup back ta his mum."

The man was rewarded by silence. Taking that as a good sign, he sighed and closed the door, leaving the room and the wolf. Tsume snarled as the door shut and didn't return to his sitting position. He listened for a moment and suddenly noticed the sound of more whimpering puppies. There was no doubt in his mind that he was in some kind of torture chamber, until he heard the stange man speak again. "Doncha worry, marm... All of the puppies... They're with they're mother now... All fine... Except... This one needs to have a shot taken..."

His ears twitched as he tried to catch more bits of the conversation, but the man had said all he needed to. There was no response to his statement from whoever he was talking to.

Still, the gray wolf didn't trust this place. Dangerous looking machinery layed about everywhere... No way he was going to relax when his life was at stake. First off, he needed to figure out he got there. Actually... Now that he tried to think on it, he wasn't really sure where he'd come from, nevermind why he was here now. Who was he? Tsume, a wolf. That much he knew. But that didn't help him figure out why he was here, in this moment.

The door opened as he tried to remember. He snarled once more at the same person as before. The man was now puppyless. "Whoa, simmer down now! Ya've got nothing to worry about, pal. Those puppies are safe with their mum and another doctor. Anyway, how's yer chest doin'? Nothing split open, right? Here, I'll just do a quick check up on you to make sure everything's fine and then we'll get you out of here and see what we can do about finding you a home."

Tsume wasn't going to let anyone take him anywhere. It was bad enough to be here, but now they wanted more with him. They weren't just going to let him go back to... Wherever he came from. He didn't like that. With a definining bark, he leapt into the air and landed on top of the doctor, a crack sounding from his body as Tsume jumped off and began running down the hallway. The man didn't say anything from his position on the floor. His eyes were wide open and he did not move whatsoever. He was dead.

The gray wolf tore down the halls, nose sniffing wildly for the easiest way out. He did not go unnoticed. Several of the animal doctors heard his heavy paws fall upon the floor, and those who were not busy made an attempt to stop him. Tsume soon found himself being stalked by five vets. He could only hope that the way he was heading was the right way out. If not, he wasn't all against simply tearing out their throats.

His head rammed against a door. It opened without hesitation to reveal a room filled with... humans. There were also a large ammount of cats and dogs, two birds, and a rat. Tsume assessed this situation as quickly as he could, not stopping to let his followers catch up to him. He rushed across the room towards a glass door. He wasn't about to stop now... It was this or nothing. Tsume reared up as he reached the door and jumped straight at it.

Thud!

The glass was obviously not so flexible... He fell to the floor temporarily, and when he sat himself back up he was staring face to face with his pursuers. He backed away as far as he could, baring his teeth. One of the doctors, this one seemingly female, backed away. She was apparently the only smart one. The others stood their stupidly, circling him as he let drool drip from his fangs. However, before any action could take place, a man, wearing a brown leather jacket and an after shave as dark as midnight suddenly came running over from one of the chairs that lined the waiting room. He pushed away the doctors, his strength incredible. "Sparky! Are you ok boy?"

The entire staff stopped, puzzled. Tsume too was a bit at a loss for words. Sparky? He had the wrong wolf... Still the man pressed closer to him, even kneeling at his side. Tsume had the right mind to bite him then and there, but controlled his rage for a second. The curiousity welling up inside him was almost as much as that now surpressed anger. "Oh Sparky, I was afraid you wouldn't make it through that operation... I can see your fine now though. Did those mean doctors treat you bad? Did they? They did, huh?"

The oddity of a man began ruffling Tsume's fur. As if he had pulled a trigger, his mouth opened to rip apart his flesh. However, his jaw snapped shut again when the man whispered into his ear, soft and soothingly, "You want to get out of this alive, don't you?"

Tsume sat perfectly still, allowing the odd man to scratch at his head, as much as he disproved of it. However, he had no one to trust but him... The man went on, now talking to the vets. "I'm terribly sorry. Here, I'll just let him out and go about paying the bill. Would that be alright?"

"There is a leash law here, sir." Replied a stern doctor. "We'll also need to possibly condemn him to a-"

The door was whipped open before he could finish his sentence. Without even thanking his savior, Tsume made a run out the door. It slammed behind him as he whizzed down what the door revealed- a case of stairs. He could see the day light at the bottom. There was nothing stopping him now from the freedom which he sought after.

No idea of where to go from here, he rushed forward into the onslaught of the big city.

Alright, that's all for this chapter. They're short, I know, but I think you guys would prefer reading a story with a lot of chapters that are short than a story with few but long chapters. I'd also like to thank my first four reviewers for some awesome commentary. You guys rock. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you did the last one. -

Note: The chapter is named after yet another Yoko Kanno song. I hope for them all to be that way... Muahahaha, fear my unoriginality.


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